Sounds of Magic
by AnimeClouds
Summary: There are many who are powerful young ambient mages other than Sandry, Tris, Daja and Briar. Niko manage to find two before they wreak havoc. Now that they are stronger in number as well as magic, can they save their happy future or will they fall apart?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! My name's AnimeClouds, or Clouds for short. My fanfics are usually Naruto fanfics but I'm such a huge fan of Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic series that I decided, Hey! Why not? So here I am, writing a Circle of Magic fanfic. If all goes well, my next chapter will be up after I update my Naruto Fanfics. So enjoy the chapter, suggestions would be much apprieciated.**

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There was a glimmer, a silver flash, barely noticable, even to the famous Niklaren Goldeye, it remained in the corner of his eye never being able to fully look at it directly. All that mattered to him now that it was still there, radiating magic steadily, in uneven pulses albiet but still they were steady uneven pulses. He was on one of the busiest streets on Emelan, one of the busiest cities, everywhere on the streets lay street vendors who sold a wide asssortment of magical charms and potions, all varying in magical strength which all gave off their own silver glow, adding to his confusion.

Frowning, he silently berated himself for letting such a thing get away from even the likes of him. Pushing off the thoughts of his silent chastisement for himself he strode briskly towards the dash of silver fire. The closer he got, the clearer the source of magic was, soon enough, he was able to many silver threads deriving from the splash of silver connecting to a wide variety of objects in it's vincity. The threads were hooked to people of varying ages and sizes, animals of all sorts, charms rattling in the wind and many more that lay tangled in the mess that was the web of silver threads.

Niko tracked the daub of fire around a block of shops into an alleyway. The alleyway was dark and dank, the walls were the back of most shops. All along the walls were lined with woven baskets, many filled with garbage and such and some simply empty. He followed the trail that the threads made oh-so-convieniently for him to the very back of the alley where it was a dead end. At the very end lay a pile of upturned baskets and torn rags.

His footsteps were barely audible as he walked towards the spot but still the baskets at the end shook slightly. With a sigh, he lifted the basket up gently and dropped it off to the side.

"D-don't hurt me please, I didn't do anything, please don't hurt me," under the basket was a boy, he was skinny and his ribcage showed through the tatters that was his tunic. Upon closer examination, the back of his tunic was also in shreds, bloodied shreds might he add. All across the boy's back were the scars of whippings and heavy beatings, some of the scars were still fresh, some scabbed over and some still oozing blood, but all of them looked infected.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Niko spread his hands, palms up to show he meant no harm. "I'm here to bring you to safety, there's a place that would gladly accept you," the boy seemed to look at him, still scared out of his wits, but something in Niko's eyes seemed get him to relax, and eventually lower his guard.

Niko smiled at the boy, "Wait here, I'll arrange a ride," the boy seemed almost relectuant to let Niko leave, his eyes showed pain and sickness as Niko walked back out onto the main street. It didn't take him long to find some merchant who had bussiness that would take him along the path to the Winding Circle Temple. He turned back down the alley and picked up his new find, who was obviously to weak to stand. Although he was feeble, the boy clutched a irregularly shaped black bag to his chest.

Empty sacks were arranged on the cart to make the boy somewhat more comfortable and a sack of potatoes were used to gently prop him up into sitting position. Niko leapt onto the cart with practiced ease, telling the merchant to head to the Winding Circle temple as fast as he could. Just as the wheels of the cart began to move, a red streak shot out of the alley Niko had found the boy and leapt into the cart. The red streak was a dog, or what looked like a dog, its entire body was mostly a greyish-blue shade but the fure ontop of the head and along it's legs and underside looked like it was made of fire.

"Ignis...good boy," the boy rasped out, stroking the fiery fur without having it seem to burn him. Ignis, the fiery creature panted and curled up on his master's lap, his boney sides heaving slightly as he tried to catch his breath. Niko furrowed his brow, whoever had done this would surely pay, he was sure Duke Vedris would make sure of that, the story would be squeezed out of the boy later, right now, the boy seemed in no mood to tell his sob story.

* * *

It took nearly four hours to reach Winding Circle, along the way, they stopped to water the horses at a river and to take a stretch. Niko had finally managed to get enough out of the boy to piece together his story. His name was Talon Sanders, he was an orphan at birth and had taken to the streets as a street rat for the first few years of his life. At about the age of six or seven, one of the Duke's soldier found him on the streets and had taken him in. The soldier had two other sons, both older than Talon by two or three years and both were cruel bullies. The soldier in speaking had died, leaving all his money and inheirtance to Talon, and basically none to his two sons. This angered his sons and they took out their anger on the poor boy, claiming that Talon had done something to the will and then dumped him on the street to die.

Niko was furious by the time he pieced everything together, the moment he reached the Winding Circle, he would send a letter to Duke Vedris, telling him of this outrageous incident. He was already thinking of the ways he could punish those two incomptent fools for doing such a deed. The cart pulled up just outside Discipline, it was already quiet late in the afternoon and not many people wandered outside, preparing for the dinner bell to go off so they can eat.

He didn't bother with knocking on the door, boy in his arms, Niko simply shoved the door open with Ignis at his heels, surprising those who sat at the dinner table. "Where's Lark or Rosethorn?" he demanded, not seeing the two Dedicates in the house.

"They were called down to the Hub for something, why-that boy looks terrible!" Sandry came out of her room, overhearing Niko's question. Her cornflower coloured eyes widened, at te sight of Talon, he was flithy and siclky looking to the point you couldn't tell his hair or skin colour.

"That spare bed is still in the attic yes?" seeing Sandry nod, he continued, "I'm going to carry him upstairs and put him in the bed. Then I'm going to find Dedicate Moonstream to look at him, she was once a healer. You guys try to clean him up, take a wet cloth and just wipe him down, do not touch his back or have him lay on his back, understand?" Niko disapeared up the stairs with the boy, Ignis staggering weakly after his master, his voice easily carrying down through the house. He reappeared shortly hands free of the boy and headed out the door quickly, towards the Hub.

* * *

"Bookkeeper Oti have no mercy on the souls of those who did this to him," Daja whispered when she joined the other four in the attic. The boy looked like he was sleeping, with Ignis as his pillow but he kept whimpering in pain. Niko had used some boxes in the attic to prevent Talon from rolling over onto his back, so he lay on his side now.

"Well, this bleater ain't gonna clean 'imself, so we might 'swell get started," Briar sighed and tossed the other three a wet cloth from the bucket of water they had brought up. Briar went and used his own body to prop the boy into sitting position, careful not to touch his back, not that he would ever want to. Bit by bit, the Daja and Tris managed to wipe him down to a cleaner state while Sandry carefully cut away the tattered tunic since they couldn't get it off without causing Talon any pain. They were just finishing up wiping his arms when Niko arrived with Dedicate Moonstream.

"Where did you ever find this one Niko? Deadman's District?" Moonstream turned Talon over so he lay on his stomach, everyone gasped or winced at the state his back was in. Every single inch on his back was covered by scars, cuts or bruises, he han't been able to take care of the wounds properly so some of the wounds were a sickly shade of green or blue. Most of the wounds were scabbed over but some of the deeper wounds were still bleeding slowly.

"No, found him in a back alley in Emelan, rushed him straight here," Niko replied, his lips in a tight line. "He was beaten and then left for dead," That was common in Deadman's District, where Briar came from, but in Emelan? Beating people had a severe punishment depending how badly the victim was injured, whoever did this to the boy would get a death penalty for sure.

"I'm going to heal the major cuts and the ones that are most life threatening, some of Rosethorn's salves will fix up the rest," she lay her hands on his back, directing her magic to heal most life threatening ones and the worst infected ones. Once those were all healed up, she stood up again. "He has a case of mal-nutrition and dehydration, start feeding him some thin gruel to start off, once he get's stronger, you can start feeding him solids."

"Thank-you Dedicate Moonstream," Niko gestured to leave the boy to rest and all of them retreated down the stairs. "Briar, go find Rosethorn and Lark, tell them to hurry back. Sandry, go get some soup from Dedicate Gorse, Daja and Tris can take turns watching him," At Niko's orders, the four charges took off to do their task. Once the four were gone, Dedicate Moonstream began talking again.

"Honestly Niko....I don't think he'll make the night,"

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**That's the end of chapter one! ooo cliffyish ending! R&R please the more you review the longer and better the chapter so it's a win-win situation! Until next time! ~AnimeClouds~ **


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's my second chapter! The first chapter went over quite smoothly so here's my second one. Thank you to all those who reviewed and those who spent the time reading my first chapter. And for those who noticed that I changed my summary: I looked through the pairings and noticed I had one person left out, I'm not telling who, you'll have to read and find out so I put in another OC to fill in the gap. Enjoy! **

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"Honestly Niko, I don't think he'll make the night,"

These words chilled her to the bone, the fact that the boy that Niko had brought in might not survive to see another day. Tris had stayed behind to eavesdrop on what Dedicate Moonstream and Niko were talking about while Daja went upstairs to see their patient. To see someone die right before her eyes, the sickening feeling of helplessness as someone's life drifted away from your grasp.

Tris shook her head, freeing her mind from such vile thoughts. "That's just a speculation Tris, get a grip on yourself, there's a chance he could still survive. He survived all that time in Emelan in that wounded condition so one more night with his life threatening wounds healed won't kill him," She said this out loud to make it sound more believable for herself. Mustering up her courage, she walked up the stairs, even though with every step, her legs threatened to give out on her.

"He will live to see another day or my name isn't Trisana Chandler!"

* * *

"Why?" the simple question hung in the air, making the atmosphere tense with its presence. Niko did not dare say anymore other than that. He did not know if he really wanted to know the gruesome details.

"He did not just endure a simple beating Niko, you of all people should have seen this. He has internal damage, and not just any internal damage, it's the result of heavy magic being preformed on him. A wide assortment if heavy magic, it was like they used him as a test subject to test spells on or something," Dedicate Moonstream sighed and rubbed her temples tiredly. Healing Talon had taken alot more out of her than she had originally prepared for.

"His insides were in complete turmoil! There was so much power mixed in him that I could not tell what power was his and what power was not!" Niko sat down heavily on a stool, reality only just having hit him. He had brought so many hopeless cases to the Winding Circle Temple that he had began to become overconfident perhaps. Maybe it was time for him to realize that not everyone can be helped, not everyone can be saved. "I'm such a fool!"

"There may be a chance though," Moonstream interjected before he could go on a rant. "The magic is eating away at the boy's magic. His magic will only hold back this intruding magic for so long before it is clean gone. Since he is untrained, the period of time that the intruding magic will be held at bay is unpredictable. We need to be able to destroy the intruding magic before this period of time is gone. I do not know how but I will confer with some of the other Dedicates and figure out how. In the mean time, I would try to make him as comfortable as possible, his magic could be gone tonight and that would be the end."

"Very well then, I will keep you informed," Niko got up and walked with Moonstream to the door. Once she had left, he dug out the nescessary utensils for writing that letter to Duke Vedris, "Oh the duke will just have a ball when he hears of this matter."

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Daja had replaced Ignis with some regular pillows and removed the uncomfortable boxes that kept him from rolling onto his back. Some lunch scraps and a dish of water had been brought up for the fiery little creature to eat, in which he now did, eating and drinking ravenously. "Poor things, I wonder what ever had happened to them for them to end up like this? Actually I don't want to know."

"Well whoever did this to them, Shurri Firesword bring them to justice," Tris snapped, drizzling water on the boy's lips, trying to get some liquids into the dry shell that was a body. She watched him with a curious look on her face, even though he was unconcious, a small smile was still plastered on his face. 'I really want to help him, but I don't know how!' she thought desperately to herself. Everyone was always scared of her because of what she did, destroying things with lightning and causing mayhem with odd weather occurences. But just once, she wished that she could help, heal and not kill or destroy.

Completely unnoticed by her, some of her magic leaked out, if she even knew that she had any. If you were able to see the magic like Niko, then you would see silver wisps, moving swiftly and entering Talon's body. Inside his body, Tris' magic, had lightning in it, this part of her magic promptly began frying the offending magic inside his body. At the first 'shock of lightning' inside his body, he convulsed, scattering the pillows underneath him.

"NIKO!" at the cry, Niko's head popped up from where the stairs and the floors met with in seconds. He took one look at the situation and said, "Daja, go get Dedicate Moonstream, she should be along the way to the Hub, Tris, you and me need to restrain him," Niko grabbed one flailing arm and pressed it to the floor, using his legs to trap the feet, leaving Tris with the other arm. When Talon was fully restrained, Niko began analyzing him with his infamous eyes.

"What in the name of Asaia is going on?" Niko's eyes widened in shock at the sight of magic burning away the harmful magic, leaving Talon's protective, soothing magic behind. Once the magic completely destroyed the harmful magic, it seemed to merge with Talon's original magic, strengthening it against any future possible internal mishaps. Finally stopped flailing, all his muscles relaxing as all traces of magic settled down to a neutralized state where it would not do anything until called upon.

"What's going on Niko?" Moonstream appeared, a little winded for running all the way back to Discipline. She was followed by Lark and Rosethorn, whom were on the way back when Daja came running for Moonstream. They had the wisdom to tell their young charges to remain downstairs.

"I don't know, Daja and Tris called me up here and I saw him just convulsing. I sent Daja to find you while Tris and I restrained him." Niko motioned for Tris to go downstairs as well. He got up off the ground and dusted himself off, allowing Moonstream to take a look at their patient.

"All that magic is gone, all that remains is his own magic which is doing internal repairs," Moonstream confirmed after running her own magic through the boy's body, "I don't understand what happened, nor do I want to know, sometimes, it's best if nobody were to know," she withdrew her magic from him. "Some rest will be good for him, if he wakes up, give him some soup,"

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His head hurt, his back hurt in fact, he hurt! Where was he? He sat up, or tried to sit up, but his aching body wouldn't let him so he kinda just flopped back onto the pillows. "He's up!" the voice sounded unsually loud to his sensitive ears. He tried to turn his head, resulting in a light jolt of pain, slowly he managed to turn enough that he could see where he was. It was a medium sized room, there was a chest of drawers in the corner and a table with a chair in the room. His bag lay on the table, seemingly untouched next to a half eaten tray of food. He sniffed the air, the enticing aroma of freshly baked rolls and a mixture of vegetables wafted throughout the room.

"Here you must be hungry, eat," a gentle hand pressed a bowl up to his lips while another hand helped him up. He drank greedily, lapping up the broth like it was some magical water or something. After he had finished the first bowl, he was given a cup of juice which he held in shaky hands, downing the sweet liquid in several gulps.

After he had finished eat-drinking, he realized there was a girl at his bedside. She looked at him curiously with conflower coloured eyes for a little bit before she spoke, "My name is Lady Sandriline fa Toren, you can just call me Sandry. And just to let you know, you're at Discipline cottage at the Winding Circle Temple,"

"Talon Sanders, call me Seth," he rasped, seeing her confused look, he continued. "Middle name," he explained, a small smile gracing his features.

"Nice to meet you Seth," she returned the smile, it was hard not to, considering the fact that he could still smile dispite the state he was in.

"Sandry! I need your help down here!" Lark called from downstairs in her work room, "Now please!"

"Coming Lark!" Sandry grinned at Seth, "Someone else will be up to check on you later, I'll be seeing you!" She got up and started climbing down the stairs.

Just before her head disapeared from view completely Seth called out with that gentle teasing smile of his that made Sandry's heart leap, "I hope they are as intresting and pretty as you m'lady." This earned him a light blush and a wave.

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**There you are! Things are heating up hehehe... For those who are wondering why I changed Seth's name to Seth....it sounded cooler! So ha! And those who are wondering what his magic is...READ NEXT TIME! R&R please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello all :D This is the next chapter :D My summer is halfway over and I've decided that I can no longer spend my entire life writing fanfiction, it'll be a hobby, something I do in my spare time so updates will be all over the place. But still enjoy the chapter :D**

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Within the week, Seth was able to eat solid foods but Rosethorn did not allow him down the stairs, making him lie in his bed in the attic room. This he didn't really argue about, Sandry was always up and about, visiting him and telling him stories of back then and what had happened before he had arrived at Discipline. Often, it would take a good shouting from Rosethorn to get Sandry to leave the attic and go downstairs. Nowadays, Lark had to bother Rosethorn to get Sandry away from Seth more than ever.

"Briar!" Rosethorn called out, the sound of hurried footsteps followed her voice. They had all learned it was best not to keep the sharp tongued dedicate waiting. Briar showed up shoeless as usual, his shoes had been ditched somewhere again, prefering to go barefoot. 'Take this lunch tray up stairs, don't eat any of it, I'm watching you," Rosethorn warned, handing Briar a tray laden with food. Briar nodded and dashed up the stairs, definetly scared of Rosethorn.

It didn't take him long to reach the top, where Seth was reading a book, and by the looks of it, he was halfway done. "Lunch, ya bleater," The tray was placed beside Seth who simply dropped his book on his lap and helped himself to a roll.

"_Hamot_," Seth replied, stuffing the roll with some vegetables and drizzling sauce over the roll to soften it a bit, making it easier for him to eat. Briar looked surprised that he knew Tradertalk, in fact Daja and Sandry would also be quite happy, the odd red head wouldn't. She didn't understand a single word of what the three said.

"_Kaq,_" Briar retorted without missing a beat, without even bothering to ask, he took one of the rolls off the tray, ripping it into little pieces before putting them into his mouth.

"_Pavao_," Seth smiled at him, already finished his roll and moving on to finishing gulping down his juice. When there was not a drop left in the cup, he let it fall to the tray with a soft clatter.

"I like you kid," Briar grinned, gathering up the tray and started down the stairs before Rosethorn could yell at him once again.

"And I don't like you at all," Seth teased with a joking smile, waving as Briar disapeared down the stairs. Now he would be left alone for a bit with his book, well alone until Sandry was free from chores and came up to visit him. Oh how he wish Rosethorn let him out of bed already, it was getting mighty tiring being stuck up in the attic, normally he might just sneak out, but with Rosethorn watching you... no chance.

* * *

It wasn't until later that afternoon did Niko come visit, with another kid. "Another one Niko? Honestly, we don't have any rooms left!" Lark exclaimed at the sight of another new charge for them. The boy was sorta scrawny with chestnut coloured hair, he looked really uncomfortable to even be at the cottage and flinched when Lark raised her voice slightly.

"Well you have to put up with this last one, they aren't taking him in at the dorms, not after the incident down at the boy's dorms this morning," Niko nodded thankfully, accepting the cup of tea Tris offered him with and taking a long sip.

"I'll put him up with Seth I guess, I'll figure something out," Lark sighed, leading the boy up the stairs, leaving Niko behind. Once they were heading up the stairs, out of Niko's sight and hearing range did she talk to once again. "I'm Lark, one of the Dedicates here at Discipline cottage, Rosethorn is the other Dedicate, you'll know when you meet her. The red head you just saw downstairs is Tris, and you'll be sharing a room with Seth, whom I'm sure to be glad to have some company. Sorry for going off a little here, but I never got your name."

"Kain Ceider," he replied a little nervously, a little bit scared of Lark. At last they reached the top, Seth simply raised his eyebrows when Lark first appeared and then shifted his joking gaze to Kain who shifted nervously from one foot to the other. Lark went to the very back of the attic, where they still stored stuff in boxes and dragged out a spare matress like the one Seth was laying on.

That she pushed to the opposite side of the room as well as another chest of drawers from the back of the attic. "In the back there should be a couple boxes of tunics and breeches, you can go pick some and put them in the drawers. I'll make you some shoes and other things later, I'll see you at dinner Kain," Lark told him, brushing the dust off of her clothes she retreated down the stairs.

Once she was gone, Kain seemed to relax and flopped onto the matress with a heavy thump. He lay there for a minute, completely still as if comtemplating what to do then sat up, staring at Seth who promptly returned to quietly reading his book. "What are you reading?"

"101 Ways To Annoy People," Seth replied nonchanantly, flipping to the next page of his odd choice of read.

"Who do you want to annoy?" Kain asked curious, this Seth guy seemed to be not a bad guy so why would he read such a book?

"Rosethorn," was the simple reply.

"Oh." then it went silent after that.

* * *

It took Seth another week before Rosethorn finally allowed him to be up and around. Even before that, he was always sneaking out of the attic with the help of Kain, who left ladders randomly propped up on the window. It took a near fall and fatal injury for Rosethorn finally decided that if he was well enough to commit suicide, he was well enough to be allowed up.

That's when he put the week's worth of reading that book to good use. On that one paticular day he decided to replace all the sugar in the sugar canister with salt and set it on the table in front of Niko. Both Kain and him turned away when Niko added two paticularly large spoonfuls of the 'sugar' into his tea but they both had to stuff their fist's in their mouth's when the others did the same coincidentally decided to do the same. They inched towards the front door, already planning their escape.

The instant the tea entered their mouths, all seven pairs of eyes widened. They got up, stumbling over one another to get to the sink. Briar, deciding to be smarter, ran to the window and spat it out over the windowsill into the grass underneath it. Tris, Daja and Sandry ran out the back door, heading for the privy where they could puke their guts out in private. The three adults simply dashed over to the sink and spat the liquid that was the very cause of this incident.

"SETH!!!"

"Run!" the two of them dashed out the door and around the corner, forgetting the privy was also that way chased by the four who were inside the house. The other three had just exited the privy, put two and two together and gave chase as well. This went on around the cottage until the chasers spilt into two groups and went two different ways, trapping the two. At this point, they ran back in the house and up the stairs to their attic sanctuary. Seth took one of the large planks of wood that lay stacked in a corner and placed it down on the hole where the stairway came up. Kain, understanding what to do, shoved the chests of drawers and several boxes ontop of the plank.

Then the two collapsed onto their matresses, exhausted from their run. "That was fun, let's do that again sometime," Kain grinned at Seth having opened up a bit throughout the week.

"Definetly," There was gonna be hell to pay.

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**That's the end of the chapter :D Thank you to all whom had reviewed and please please please continue reviewing :D Your support is much appreiciated~AnimeClouds~**


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